The following is my mom’s recipe, and she would make it especially for my dad. My dad loved soup, and every day he would have a very large bowl of it. Every week would bring a different soup, depending on the season, but bean soup was one of his favorites in any season.
I can see him now, heating up the soup and cutting up slices of bread to add to the bottom of the bowl. Then he would pour the soup and let some of the bread soak up the soup. He would add a small splash of wine into the soup before he began to eat it. As you might guess, I would sometimes have him make me a small bowl in the exact same way and then we would eat together.
- 2 (15.5-ounce) cans white kidney beans, rinsed
- Olive oil
- 1 large onion, chopped
- 1 pound potatoes, chopped
- 1/2 pound carrots, chopped
- 1 link chouriço
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 4 cups kale, finely chopped
Use a slotted spoon to remove almost half of the whole beans and set aside. Use an immersion blender to puree the remaining beans in the pan, then set aside. You'll have both the whole beans and the pureed beans waiting to go into the stock pot.
In a large stock pot, add enough olive oil to cover the bottom of the pan, then add the onions, potatoes, carrots, chouriço, and salt and pepper. Fill the pot with enough water to cover everything.
Set the pot over medium to high heat and bring the water to a boil, then lower the heat to a low simmer. Cook until the carrots and potatoes break when you stick a fork in them. Once that happens, add the kale and cook for 5 minutes, then remove from heat.
Remove the chouriço link, cut into rounds, and place back into the soup.
Add the pureed beans and the whole beans to the stock pot, and stir everything together. The pureed beans will make the broth of the soup creamy.
